How to use Control Center on iPad and iPhone in iOS 7

With iOS 6, altering the brightness, turning on Bluetooth or enabling Airplane mode was a time consuming process. With iOS 7, it’s possible to alter these settings, control music playback and open common apps from both the Lock Screen and Home Screen. As a result, it’s now possible to alter the screen brightness without even unlocking the device.

Learn how to access Control Centre and use its features by reading on…

1. Enable Control Center

From either the Lock or Home screen, simply swipe your finger from the bottom of the screen upwards. You’ll see Control Center slide up the screen.

2. Control Center controls

You’ll see common function settings at the top of Control Center. These enable you to turn on Airplane mode, turn WiFi on and off, enable Bluetooth, turn on Do Not Disturb and toggle the Orientation Lock

3. Brightness control

Below the settings controls is a slider for altering the brightness. Just drag the brightness button to configure this setting.

4. Music controls

You’ll see controls for music playback in the middle of Control Center.

5. AirDrop and AirPlay

Tap the AirDrop button to configure how discoverable your iPhone is to other people on your WiFi network. By tapping the AirPlay button you can choose which device to stream content too.

6. Flashlight

A very welcome addition, by tapping the Flashlight button you can instantly turn on the camera flash on the back of iPhone.

7. App shortcuts

Tap the Clock, Calculator or Camera button to instantly open these apps.